Monday, February 17, 2014

1970s Fiorelli Part II -Finito

Almost exactly a year ago I posted Part I about the Fiorelli, obviously I was in a hurry to get it done.

I don't expect any old 10 speed rehab to go entirely smoothly, however, this Italian seemed to fight me more than most. I took 3 trips to bike shops for this one and I rarely need to go even once for most bikes. It all started with the bottom bracket.

When I originally tore the bike down to the frame a year ago, I was unable to remove the drive-side cup. Not a big deal so long and one side comes out you can clean everything up, however the idiot who tore down the bike put everything away in a box except for the rest of the bottom bracket! Usually not a big deal but this bike is Italiano with special threads for the bb and the headset. Oi vey, so now I need to order a new sealed bb, thank you Shimano UN-55 and Amazon.com, but I still have to get the stupid drive side cup out. Did I mention this bike started out with a cottered crank and BB? Anyway after lots of trying I find myself with a hammer in my hand, my temperature rising and the drive side cup still firmly in place. Deep breath, put hammer down, step away from hammer, load frame in car and drive to nice local bike shop (LBS). They had it out in no time- gas to shop $1.50, cost to have cup removed $5 cash, not throwing bike parts or angrily wielding a hammer around a steel frame...priceless.

Now its time to install the brand spanking new Italian bb, easy peasey right? I even read up and knew that the Italians like to thread both sides clockwise unlike the British and French threaded bbs which have one side threaded counter clockwise. Anyway I am finding the install to be tougher than I expected and worried about cross threading I go back to the LBS. Despite having carefully cleaned the bb threads it seems that there were a few burrs making things difficult but again the shop took care of me.

Now that I have the BB taken care of and had already installed the new Italian Velo Orange headset I bought for it last year its on to the wheels.

note the dirty hubs

At first I thought I might have some rust to deal with in the hub area but upon closer inspection someone had just gone crazy with grease and it was a caked on mess.

Well that is where the elbow grease comes in along with a big helping of simple green a toothbrush and even a bit of super fine steel wool for the stubborn bits, but it all turned out OK.

much cleaner

A little fine steel wool to clean the water spots and oxidation off the aluminum rims followed by some Mother Aluminum polish and things were looking up

before and after

That is until I got to removing the Freewheel, its a Regina and my #2 Park FW puller looked like a perfect fit, but it was just slightly too big. Since I also found out that my crank and front derailleur combo wasn't going to work I went to my favorite bike spot, Bikeworks, to get some new (used) parts and have their shop tackle the FW. I was found parts just fine but they were defeated by the FW! Since it was in good shape and I could rebuild the hub with it in place I just left it after cleaning it and adding some 3 in 1 oil into the seams to keep it spinning smooth.

Sakae Crank in good shape

When I got this bike it was a miss-mash of parts and it left me that way too although I think in better condition. Dia compe side pull brake up front and Weinman center pull in back.

Schwinn brake levers with pimped out gold quick release tabs- they came that way!

I also replaced the banded down-tube shifters that came on the bike with some power ratchet Suntour stem shifters. I love DT shifters but this bike had no lug on the down tube to keep the shifter band from slipping so it was an accident waiting to happen with that setup.

Some nice used Bluemels' white fenders and a working vintage Zefal pump to give it some commuter appeal.

And I went with some brand new fat platform pedals I purchased for another build that never came about.

Despite the travails in getting this bike road worthy again I was happy with how it turned out, especially the paint which went from being so oxidized it was powdery to the touch to a nice blue again after cleaning with armor-all wipes and two coats of wax. I also think the build came out quite functional despite the frankenbike mixture. All in all it was only on Craigslist for 90 minutes this afternoon before being snapped up by a local, so me and my pocketbook are happy.

Next up is a nice Peugeot Course (UO-10) which has been in the queue even longer than the Fiorelli was. Although it's French it is complete so I hope it won't pose too many problems....well see.